It should be noted that this year, for the first time, teachers of history, technology, music, fine arts, and physical education will also be involved in certification exams. After this stage, all teachers working in general education institutions will have passed certification.
In the next stage, teachers will be involved in this process again every 5 years. Let's consider that the first stage of certification was more of an initial experience for teachers.
It is interesting, what changes are needed in the next certification stage? In general, what needs to be abolished and what innovations need to be added?
Elmin Nuri, a researcher on education issues, who gave a statement to AzEdu.az on the topic, noted that certification plays an important role in evaluating and motivating teachers' professional level:
"Certain problematic details remain in the process of certifying educators. We would like to characterize some of them not as problems, but as more effective details compared to the current version of certain provisions.
The process of certifying educators plays a very important role in determining the professional suitability and professional level of teachers, in motivating worthy pedagogues who have shown high results by increasing their salaries, as well as in identifying those whose pedagogical indicators are below minimal conditions. However, during the organization of this process, several details that were met with dissatisfaction among a large number of educators in society can be grouped as follows.
Thus, in the process of certifying educators, participants in the competition are asked 60 questions, each valued at 1 point, the vast majority of which - 50 questions - relate to the relevant subject program. Only 10 questions include teaching strategies, teaching methodology, and psychological skills. Let's consider that methodological and psychological skills also play an important role in determining the professional suitability of an educator. The imbalance between questions in the test exam stage disrupts the logical connection between these indicators. The question delivery technologies mainly require factual knowledge focused on rote learning related to relevant subject programs.
The certification of educators consists of two main stages (test and interview). In the interview stage, which lasts 20 minutes, educators are evaluated with 40 points on a 4-point scale. In the interview stage, evaluation is carried out based on these criteria:
Ability to present the topic according to the program;
Ability to evaluate learners;
Self-presentation skills;
Ability to organize the pedagogical process;
Communication skills.
However, despite the interview stage reflecting such important criteria, in the first two years of the process, it remained somewhat in the shadow of the test exam stage, and in a certain sense, almost formal. The fact that the results of the interview stage, which should be evaluated with a maximum of 40 points, were not included in the salary increase reduced its functionality. This, in turn, led to certain dissatisfaction and distrust among learners. Because the interview stage, which directly requires psychological and methodological skills, is capable of conveying the teacher's professional competence more accurately than the test stage, but in the current situation, it does not have an indicator of usefulness for the teacher. The fact that only 33 out of thousands of teachers who participated in the interview last year were evaluated as unacceptable is a clear example of this."
Our interviewee spoke about the dissatisfactions arising in the certification exam:
"One of the most serious dissatisfactions in the certification process is the issue of adding 35 percent to the salaries of teachers who score above 50 points in the test exam stage, and 10 percent to the salaries of those who score below 50 points and above 30 points. This has caused serious dissatisfaction among teachers.
The application of differential salaries after the certification process for educators, with salary additions given within certain rules, could be a very positive step taken for the benefit of thousands of educators. Otherwise, the dissatisfaction of hundreds of teachers who will receive 25 percent less salary than their colleagues just for not scoring 1 point will continue. Let's recall that according to current rules, in the certification process for educators, the salary of a teacher who scores 50 points is increased by 10 percent, and the salary of a teacher who scores 51 points is increased by 35 percent. This is met with very serious dissatisfaction among educators."
The content of the test exam stage does not correspond to the educator's teaching process:
"This content, directly based on curriculum approaches, is not an object of use in the teacher's teaching process; the educator shows interest in organizing the lesson based on classical methods, not curriculum approaches. The fact that the vast majority of educators do not build curriculum approaches, practical application skills of the pedagogical process, and innovative tendencies distances them from the content of the test exam stage, and this seriously affects the results.
The content of the test exam stage mainly includes:
Teaching strategies: modern teaching methods and techniques, active interactive teaching technologies, stages of an interactive lesson and requirements for it, the essence and content of the curriculum, characteristics of innovative pedagogical activity.
Teaching methodology: Innovations in the methodology of teaching the subject, principles of organizing the pedagogical process, planning of teaching activities, requirements for organizing teaching, methods of assessing knowledge and skills, types and purposes of assessment.
Of course, this content fully serves the development criteria of modern education. However, it also creates certain difficulties for educators who have remained outside the requirements of this content throughout the year. The lack of special attention to these issues during preparation for the certification process, and the failure to conduct necessary training and seminars, prevented teachers from achieving better results."
Measures for checking and developing teachers' ICT skills were not taken before certification:
"Making the participation of educators over 60 years old voluntary in the certification process contradicts the requirements of Article 16, Part 1 of the Labor Code. Discrimination in labor relations, including age discrimination, is not allowed.
Also, this approach plays the role of a tendency that subconsciously degrades the professional suitability, knowledge, and skills of teachers belonging to the mentioned age group. For these and other reasons, it has caused serious dissatisfaction among teachers over 60, as well as thousands of their colleagues.
Another issue met with dissatisfaction is the rule of exempting those hired based on the Teacher Recruitment Competition in the last 3 years from certification. Because a large number of teachers hired during this period remain outside the certification process for educators, losing their chances of increasing their salaries.
Before the certification process for educators, necessary measures were not taken to check teachers' ICT skills and increase their competence in this direction. This factor created additional difficulties and psychological tension, especially for teachers in middle and older age groups. Although there were members of volunteer organizations assisting educators with ICT issues in the test exam stage, the electronic organization of exams made it imperative to provide teachers with necessary information. However, the lack of any work in this direction was also one of the reasons for certain dissatisfaction in the organization of the process.
The main issues that have concerned teachers participating in the certification process so far have also been the lack of sufficient training and seminars related to both specialization, methodology, and interview stages before the process."
Lack of psychological preparation negatively affected exam results:
"Another problematic issue for some teachers in the certification process is that they have not worked on themselves for a long time, both professionally and methodologically, during their pedagogical activities, and have not improved themselves. This, in turn, reduced the sense of self-confidence in those teachers, creating psychological pressure, anxiety, and tension in them. The lack of psychological training and the unpreparedness of teachers in this regard during the exam process were seriously reflected in their results.
The fact that school directors and their deputies are not involved in the certification process... In world practice, pedagogical leadership also participates in evaluations and is evaluated with appropriate certificates. This neither separates them from the pedagogical collective nor evaluates their professional competence and professional level."
